<p> This exploratory qualitative inquiry examined the role of experiential learning in undergraduate business curricula. Business organizations seek graduates with abilities and skills that add immediate value to organizations. However, many organizations feel that graduates are not well prepared by current management education curricula and do not possess adequate skill sets to transition efficiently from students to employees. This research examined the influence of internship programs by comparing and contrasting the experiences of graduates that had participated in internship programs as part of their degree requirements with the experiences of graduates that had not participated in internship programs. The research also sought feedback from human resource managers responsible for hiring decisions in order to obtain the perspective of business organizations as stakeholders. An analysis of the study&rsquo;s data resulted in four primary findings. Data suggested that traditional coursework plays an important role in helping students develop soft skills (i.e., verbal and written communication, collaboration, and team-building skills) whereas experiential learning in the form of internships was instrumental in helping students develop hard skills (i.e., specific job-related skills such as accounting processes unique to an organization). The data also suggested that internships help facilitate a smoother and successful transition from student to employee. According to the data, both formal and informal mentors play a significant role when transitioning to employment, and many organizations utilized mentors when training interns and new employees. Finally, the data demonstrated that there is a broad range of benefits to incorporating internships into baccalaureate business curricula. These included benefits to the students, institutions, and employers. The study&rsquo;s findings support the importance of integrating internship opportunities within the business school undergraduate curriculum. The benefits of experiential learning opportunities through internship experiences offer advantages for those lucky enough to participate. However, there are currently too few internship opportunities available to adequately prepare all graduates for the transition from students to employees.</p>

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-224). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1985. / Title from title page screen, viewed June 9, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Lanny Morreau (chair), John Brickell, James Bommarito, Mark Swerdlik, Alan Repp. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-85) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

<p> College athletics is a complex, revenue generating industry within the United States higher education system. This commercialized segment of education generated 9 billion dollars of income in 2015 from the efforts of 482,533 student athletes (Gains, 2016; NCAA, 2015). This system creates a unique spectrum characterized on one end by the insatiable desire for winning led by coaches, athletic departments, and alumni, resulting in athletic isolation to protect the &lsquo;athlete investment.&rsquo; On the other end of the spectrum is the pursuit of a degree, academic success, and career development guided by faculty and an institution&rsquo;s academic mission and reputation to protect the &lsquo;student investment.&rsquo; Student athletes are caught between the strong pull of these two opposing pressures which requires advising to assist them in navigating this complex environment and calls for current research to better understand the student athlete advisor role, its evolution, and related impact on student athletes within this academic-athletic spectrum. </p><p> Qualitative research methods explored the lived experiences of 32 athletic academic advisors from mid-sized Division I NCAA institutions. Semi-structured interviews conducted over a two-month period explored how their role, experience, and approach influence student athletes. The study drew eight primary findings and analyzed them within three original research questions that covered: (a) the evolution of student athlete advising in higher education; (b) how student athletes engage in the broader university; and (c) the range of advising from simply maintaining athletic eligibility to optimizing academic engagement. </p><p> The findings of this study illustrate the lived experiences of athletic academic advisors and unveils a mentorship role that exceeds academic advising. The findings also highlight the increasing numbers of advisors, their backgrounds, challenges, and the evolving role of student athlete advising along the athletic-academic spectrum. The results of this study can help guide institutional leaders in structuring advising and other support systems to benefit the academic and career prospects for student athletes.</p><p>

This thesis explores the impact of leadership, structure, process and systems investments on operational, financial and competitiveness performance in service organisations over time. In doing so, the research presented here aims to understand two questions. Firstly, how does investment impact business performance in different markets and, secondly, how does this relationship vary over time? These questions address a number of gaps within the service operations literature, as previous research has only looked at one type of investment and not understood how impact changes over time. Although some studies have looked at the relationship between investment and performance, none look at the impact on operational and financial performance. As a result, this research helps service organisations better understand how and where to make investments given their performance objectives and the nature of the market they serve. Schools were selected as examples of service organisations because they provide a similar service to each other and are measured using nationally regulated performance metrics, but operate in different ways (using different leaders, structures, processes and systems) in different markets (which vary in size and student type) with different access to resources (which vary in access to staff, students and money) and levels of competition (number, type and concentration of competitors). By studying the investments made in different schools over a five year period, this research was able to explore how different types of investment (leadership, structure, process and systems) affected impact business performance (operational, financial and competitiveness) in service organisations competing in different markets (size, customer type and competition).

<p> The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of female leaders and their role in using nonlinear models of change to influence organizational change. This study was designed to determine how approaches to change leadership deployed by female leaders contribute new information and principles to the field of organizational change. A phenomenological research method was the best approach to capture the insights, perspectives, and experiences of female leaders. This study examined the nonlinear change approaches of fourteen senior female leaders in large corporations. While female leaders are increasing in the executive suite, research around their role in change leadership remains limited. This qualitative, phenomenological study examined how fourteen female leaders used different strategies and approaches to lead organizational change. Their experiences, documented through the interview data, encompassed their personal philosophies and approaches in influencing change initiatives. The data gathered was analyzed to develop themes that scholars and female leaders could analyze and apply in the field of change management. The female leaders in this study shared five key strategies that they used to lead change: (a) Relatedness Strategies, (b) Inclusion Strategies, (c) Experiential Learning Methods, (d) Radar-emotion Detection Strategies, and (e) Authenticity and Trust Strategies. These strategies indicated a nonlinear approach to leading change that focused on intervention strategies that could be applied at any stage in the change journey. Four main conclusions can be derived from this study: (a) Effective change strategies need to be intervention driven; (b) The change leader functions best as an interceptor and connector within the organization; (c) Strategies to change require approaches that create inclusion and trust; and (d) Strategies to change should involve experiential learning designs. This study shed light on new methods and approaches for leading complex organizational change from a female perspective in corporations. Moreover, this research was relevant given the demographic changes in society and the strategic role that female leaders play today in corporations and will in the future.</p><p>

Originally conceptualized by Hambrick and Mason (1984), the upper echelons perspective (UEP) has become a dominant theme in the study of strategic decision making across a great number of disciplines. Over the past two decades, the work of these authors has been cited in over 500 refereed journal publications, lending credence to the applicability of the UEP when studying top management teams (TMTs) (Carpenter, 2005; Carpenter, Geletkanycz, & Sanders, 2004). To compensate for shortcomings in accessibility and instrumentation, the UEP uses demographic variables as proxies for the underlying psychological constructs that shape TMTs' interpretations of business situations in formulating and implementing appropriate strategic alternatives (Cannella & Holcomb, 2005a; Carpenter et al., 2004). In the context of Major League Baseball (MLB), the selection and development of player resources are critical to organizational performance (Olson & Schwab, 2000). Perhaps more than any other professional sport, the selection of MLB player talent is amenable to influence by the decision making of clubs' front office executives. Policies and decisions regarding whom to scout, whom to draft, whom to promote, whom to demote, whom to acquire, whom to trade away, whom to play in which positions, and whom to hit in which slot in the batting line-up are all elements that are managed to some degree by the club's TMT (Gamson & Scotch, 1964). Consistent with the UEP, it was believed that the cognitions, values and perceptions of MLB TMT members, along with their undeniable influence on the process of strategic choice, would be associated with significant player selection outcomes. Drawing upon theory and literature related to the UEP, the researcher employed fixed-effects regression models to explore the effects of TMT composition on the quality of player selection in MLB between 1990 and 2002. Using a linear run estimation model of offensive performance called Extrapolated Runs Basic (Furtado, 1999) as the basis for measuring player selection quality, the findings from this study suggested that basic TMT characteristics had a limited capacity to affect the overall quality of player selection decisions in MLB between 1990 and 2002. Specifically, the overall regression results suggested that these variables cumulatively accounted for between 2.5% and 3% of the variance in the offensive run productivity of players that were promoted to major league rosters during this time period. Furthermore, the results suggested that the longer TMT members worked together, and the more highly-educated they were, the better they were at making player selection decisions. Taken together, these findings have considerable implications for both theory and practice.